


keep you inside

by cheerfulcharm



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-09-30 20:04:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10170803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheerfulcharm/pseuds/cheerfulcharm
Summary: Starting in the marauders' second year. Remus has a furry little problem, Sirius has issues, James has a mother hen complex, and Peter has found a place in the world.Title is from a lyric "Runaway" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Very good song, 10/10 would recommend, very Sirius vibes.





	1. Regulus Does Exactly What He Was Supposed To

Remus bounced on his toes, eager to board the scarlet steam engine that would carry him to his favorite place in the world. The thin boy was already beginning to lose his baby cheeks; they were hollowing out, giving him the look of somebody much older. At the moment, Remus did not feel older than twelve. He felt exactly his age, and he was prepared to spend a year with some of his favorite people, whom he had not seen in over a month. 

"Remus, are you going to get on the train?" His mother gave him a little push towards the door.

"I'm going to wait for my friends."

"It's leaving in ten minutes. They're probably already on board."

"Mu- There's James!" Remus interrupted himself, excited to see his friend again. He hastily kissed his almost-teary mother goodbye and pushed his luggage cart in the direction of the grinning boy. 

"Remus, mate! Haven't seen you in a month!" James exclaimed, having just escaped his parents. "Let's get on. Have you seen Sirius or Peter yet?"

"No, you're the first one. The train is leaving soon. They've got to be on it already."

"Alright, off we go!" James waved to his mother, who had drifted over to stand by Mrs. Lupin and her husband. "Bye, mum!" 

Remus smiled at his mother, a bittersweet expression on his face. He would miss her. She was his best friend for the first ten years of his life, but he was going somewhere safe for him, and it was safer for her and his dad when he was away. He had the best deal in the world; all he had to do was keep his secret and he could stay.

James dragged Remus - who dragged his luggage - up the steps in barely enough time. They weren't on the train two minutes when it took off with a loud whistle and a great chug-chug-chug, leaving Hope and Euphemia to swipe at their eyes and tell each other they wouldn't mind being childless for nine months.

 

***

Elsewhere on Platform 9 ¾, Walburga Black was unsmiling as she delivered a clipped set of instructions to her youngest son. 

"You are a true Black, better than your brother will ever be. You will carry on the family name, as your blood-traitor brother has shown himself unfit to do so. You will stay away from Sirius. Do you hear me? You will not be infected with his weak ideals and mediocre companions. You will be sorted into Slytherin. You're ambitious, aren't you, boy? You'll do your mother proud, won't you? I will be receiving a letter this evening a detailed account of your success, will I not? Off you go."

Regulus Black turned from his mother, resisting the urge to shudder. Sirius had vanished the second they arrived, so Regulus was unsure of where to go once on board the train. He was just glad to be rid of his mother. After spending the last year hearing little but rants about Sirius, he was fully prepared to be free of his banshee of a mother; although, he knew he couldn't ever be as free as Sirius. He was well aware that he wasn't half so brave as his big brother, and he was a big enough coward to be sorted into Slytherin. At least if he wasn't in Gryffindor he was allowed to cry. He briefly considered the outcome of being placed in a house other than Slytherin. 

If he were sorted into Gryffindor, he'd be cut off from his mother and still following in his brother's footsteps away from home. He wouldn't allow that. He had a bit of a laugh, picturing his mother's face as she received a letter describing how her son was good and kind and placed in Hufflepuff. That clearly wasn't an option. Ravenclaw, he wondered. He was fairly intelligent, maybe he'd do alright in Ravenclaw. As if he'd be able to function away from both his mother and Sirius. He recalled his mother's rants about Ravenclaw.

"A collection of filthy idealists, very smart as one might expect, but no ambition to get them anywhere! A group of useless romantics! Hardly any good families in that house…"

Regulus completed his pondering. He did this quite a lot over the summer, when allowed to escape his mother's preparation for his debut into the wizarding world and after he finally gave up trying to make contact with Sirius, who had spent nearly his entire summer sulking in his room, having not been allowed to visit James or Remus, or even Peter. The owls he'd recieved, designed to cheer him up, had done nothing but incite envy and frustration, leading to a very irritated and unhappy Sirius Black.

Regulus had become lost in his thoughts, and stood in the very center of the aisle until a prefect nearly tripped over him.

"What do you think you're doing, standing in the middle of the aisle? Others need to get through too, you know." A tall boy with white blond hair was about halfway into his sneer when he recognized the rather bewildered looking boy in front of him.

"You're a Black, aren't you? Not Sirius, he started last year, oh yes! You're Regulus Black, are you not?"

Regulus was more than slightly terrified by the boy in front of him. He mentally ran through a pureblood tree Walburga had forced him to memorize, glad that his training kicked in. He took note of the green Slytherin robes, the boy had already changed into, as well as the prefect badge that was proudly pinned to his bosom. After a few seconds of what appeared to be spacing out at the prefect's hair, he timidly offered, "Yes, I am. You must be Lucius Malfoy?"

Lucius bared his teeth in a grin, pleased to have been recognized. "Come along with me, I'll show you where the other little Slytherins are."

"But we've not been sorted yet-" Regulus was not impressed with himself, turning down an opportunity to impress his mother. He began again, but Lucius interrupted him.

"Yes, but you just know about some families, don't you? The purebloods of course will be in Slytherin. Unless you're a freak like your muggle-loving brother, hmm, Black?"

Regulus tripped over his words in his embarrassment, stammering out a, "N-no of course not. I'm nothing like my brother. I'm going to be in Slytherin, of course."

Lucius accepted the over-eager response, chuckling at Regulus' hasty distinction between himself and his brother. "Of course you are, you're a sensible young lad. Now, follow me."

And that was how Regulus Black found himself in a compartment of pre-sorted Slytherins, doing perfectly well what his brother had failed to do the year before.

 

***

The minute the three Blacks arrived at Platform 9 ¾, Sirius made his escape. Now that he was beginning his second year, his mother was not as concerned about him as she might have been, before her eldest son, was sorted into Gryffindor, proving that he was a brute and no longer fit to carry the Black name. She began grooming Regulus immediately, and the young boy felt the pressure of his mother's ambition more heavily than ever.

Walburga Black was not a careless woman. She was not hasty or foolish. She set careful plans, and connived and flattered her way through everything. Her life's mission, her ultimate goal , was the result of many years of the same blood being squeezed through the lines. The one thing she had failed at thus far, was Sirius's house placement. Even after requesting a private meeting with Dumbledore, her son remained fixed in the scarlet and gold chambers, and this was a deep wound in her side that nothing Sirius did could heal.

The problem was, Sirius no longer cared about pleasing his mother, or at least that's what he told himself. After years of careful manipulation and not being allowed to socialize much, he found it confusing and difficult to identify what was wrong with his family. And now Sirius was twelve, and had effectively cut himself off from his family, even though he wasn't quite sure that was what he had wanted. 

It was what he got, however, and he bore it nobly. At first, he had tried to continue to please his mother, but after the first few howlers came through it became clear that Walburga Black did not give a damn about her eldest son anymore. This was made abundantly clear to all of Hogwarts on Sirius' second day, at breakfast, when a howler came through. Sirius tried to shove it in his robes and run, but the thing exploded and began wailing at once, giving a shockingly clear idea of exactly what Walburga Black thought of her son's placement in Gryffindor. 

"You are expected to continue fulfilling your duties as a pureblood child, but you are no longer heir to your father and I's fortune. You brother has been very eager to begin learning this, which came as no surprise to your father and I as he has always been more loyal, a fact which we are both certain will be confirmed when our better son is sorted into Slytherin where he belongs. You will conduct yourself as you have been trained while I see if I can possibly sort out this terrible error. You are an error and a disappointment. That is all, Sirius Orion." 

With that, the terrible letter burst into flames, leaving a large silence and a trembling Sirius Black, who was trying his very pureblood best not to burst into tears as he darted from the hall, leaving an even huger silence and a small bit of screaming ash in the air. 

Sirius was a pureblood, yes, which meant he was supposed to be calm and poised and put together all the time, but he was also eleven years old and humiliated by his bitch of a mother in front of the entire school. 

This did not garner a poised Sirius Black. This caused puffy red eyes and a disgusting snotty nose and a thousand tears on his cheeks and a million more inside his chest because this Sirius Black was angry and he didn't care to cry beautifully like his mother wanted. He was a huge mistake and he couldn't be beautiful or perfect like his mother expected and he couldn't be a Gryffindor because he didn't belong there and there was absolutely nothing beautifully tragic or brave about this running boy who just wanted to be gone.

He was running like the wind but he was so, so much faster than the wind, he was running as fast as a great scarlet steam engine carried him to his current problems and he was running even faster away from them. He was running like the curses he knew his parents screamed and he was running like maybe, just maybe, he could find somewhere and just disappear. 

Sirius was running up stairs and down stairs and of course the whole castle was shifting under his feet and carrying him where he wanted to go, and he didn't know where that was, but he was a pureblood and prince of the world and it was going to bend to his will one last time before his parents stripped him of that, and he was scared, so scared, and he didn't know who he was without that title and that was all he was trained to do his entire life and he didn't know, didn't know. He tried to get angry again, because anger was better than this, anything was better than this fear. But he just couldn't. 

The fear was thorny and wild and hot and entirely not Gryffindor fear, and it took over his body slowly, digging into his skin and winding around his legs and his lungs and his heart. He tried desperately to keep going, but the world didn't care about him anymore, it didn't seem to need Sirius Black. 

The boy found that he wasn't quite so scared as his breathing evened out, and nowhere near as angry. He breathed deeply, feeling dizzy as he inhaled again, trying to focus on getting as much air in his lungs as possible. He gulped again, wondering distractedly why the world seemed to be falling down around him, and then a concerned, spectacled face appeared, said "Mate,-" and caught him as he fell.


	2. Minerva McGonagall Isn't Stupid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys reunite, Minerva McGonagall isn't stupid, Regulus does The Right Thing™.

James and Remus finally found the compartment Sirius and Peter were in, stumbling inside with excited smiles. 

"Sirius!" James screamed, flinging all of his skinny twelve year old wizard self at the slightly terrified Sirius Black.

"I've missed you, mate. And look, there's Remus!" Sirius exclaimed, shoving James off in order to escape another high energy bony hug.

Remus crossed over to sit next to Sirius, taking in the even longer black hair and the bags under his eyes, not as deep set as his, but showing up more noticeably on the ivory skin. 

James huffed, theatrically upset at being separated from Sirius, and sat next to Peter, poking the poor boy in the arm, and inquiring as to what Peter had done over the summer.

Sirius snorted at James, not particularly concerned about Peter's emotional well-being and turned to Remus. "And what did you do over the holidays? You sent the least letters, for which I'd like to formally thank you."

Remus blinked, confused by Sirius' sullen remark. "I didn't really do that much," he muttered, twisting his hands in his lap and trying not to look like he'd spent time at Hogwarts over the summer turning into a werewolf in the Shrieking Shack.

"You've got to have done something. Sure you like reading books, but you're not dull enough to have done that all summer, did you, Lupin?"

"He stayed at my house with Peter for two weeks over the summer, don't worry, we didn't have too much fun without you, Sirius." James blurted, as he took in the way Sirius was sulking. Remus looked mortified. Peter piped up, "Yeah, lots of fun!" 

James briefly considered throwing him out the window, but he had gotten a little heavier over the summer and he didn't want him to die, just to shut up. No marauder would ever kill another, he recalled from the contract they'd designed last year.

Remus sighed. "You're just upset about Regulus, aren't you." 

The exhausted boy shook his head and turned away, feigning sleep. This confirmed Remus' suspicions. He didn't press the matter, instead engaging Peter and James in a quidditch conversation that James was more than happy to lead. 

***

About an hour into the ride, Sirius startled awake. Considerably less moody after his nap, he glanced around the cable car. He snorted when he saw Peter's drooping lids and Remus' barely polite interest in the quidditch game James was still seemed to describing. At the noise, James turned around, and the other two marauders glanced at him. 

Peter started picking at his nails, before starting," Ah- ooh um, Sirius, we actually had a terrible time-" before James slapped his hand over the chubby boy's mouth, probably a little harder than he needed to. 

"Don't you know when to just stop? We're moving on, Pete. Done with that." 

"Don't call me Pete!"

"Sorry, Pete." Sirius was pleased to have an opportunity to torment Peter.

"So, are we planning any pranks for tonight?" Remus was shocked to hear the words come from his own mouth, but Peter looked traumatized, having forgotten just how mean the boys could be by glorifying them over the summer in his mind. Heroes crowned in textbook glory, his first friends were perfect in his head. 

"Remus? Are you feeling okay?" Sirius gasped, astonished at his friend's suggestion.

'I haven't thought of anything, anybody?" James was again pleased to have diverted the conversation from Sirius' presence at his house over the summer holidays. 

Peter began scratching at dirt under his nails, "Erm, we could enchant, the hat? Or what if we turned Dumbledore's beard-"

"Those are good ideas, Peter. Remus, have you got any?" Sirius was trying to apologize for being short with Peter, who beamed, unaccustomed to having 'good' ideas.

Remus, who hadn't thought this far ahead, was scrambling to think of something that Sirius would enjoy and yet wouldn't ruin the Sorting experience for the rest of the school. This was disturbingly difficult. "Pass."

"Alright, we'll come back to you. James?" Sirius had appointed himself in charge of this prank, and nobody else was challenging him for the role.

James had been waiting his whole life for an opportunity to share his idea, well, at least the last five minutes. "What if we stole the Sorting Hat?"

Remus watched the gears turning in Sirius' head, and knew that something very, very bad was going to come of James' idea. 

"Yes! And then Reg can't be put in Slytherin! Oh, it's perfect, James," Sirius exclaimed, extremely excited at the prospect of theft.

James backtracked instantly, realizing his error and connecting the age of Regulus to the school year, and finishing with the same idea as Remus. "Sirius, mate, I was joking-"

"No, we've got to do it. Can't you see? Regulus could be a Gryffindor, and my mum wouldn't be able to control him, and we'd not have to be perfect little Black brats," Sirius plead, allowing a small amount of emotion to bleed into his voice. "We've got to."

"Sirius, Regulus couldn't just be put in Gryffindor. They'd find the hat eventually, there's got to be a sorting. Who knows, maybe Regulus will be a Gryffindor anyway."

"You don't understand, she's got him, she's controlling him. All bloody summer she's been preparing him to become this, what I was supposed to be. He's terrified to be like me, all summer she's been scaring him, "Don't disappoint me like your brother," this, " You'll be the perfect heir that," it's been driving me mad."

James Potter was nothing if not understanding, and although he couldn't fully comprehend the magnitude of what he was about to do, he knew he had to do it, despite Remus' warning looks. "Alright, Sirius. We have the rest of the ride to plan it, about five hours."

And Sirius smiled so brightly that everything else darkened in comparison.

***

When the four boys piled off the train later that evening, Sirius and James were still in splendid moods, and Remus felt the growing sense of doom in his stomach become a small leaden marble sitting in his stomach.

Their baggage would be brought up to the castle by magic during the feast, so the boys were weightless as they made their way into the carriages. Rolling their ankles and groaning, they sat down hard on the benches, glad that they only had to sit on the uncomfortable seats for a few minutes. 

After suffering the bouncy ride up to the castle, the people in their carriage - them and some third year Gryffindor girls- flooded into the castle with the rest of the school, ready to sit down in the Great Hall and enjoy the Sorting with the rest of the school. They weren't exactly sure how the Sorting was going to happen, because they planned on stealing the hat in the next ten minutes, but they were ready nonetheless. That is, until McGonagall pulled them over and ruined the greatest prank in pranking history before it even started.

"A word with Black and Lupin, please," McGonagall's clipped tone grabbed their attention.

Sirius and James exchanged looks. Remus and James exchanged looks. Sirius and Remus exchanged looks. Peter and the floor exchanged looks and a brief conversation about being constantly depended upon for stability but not being discussed often enough. 

In the moment James' and Remus' eyes connected, they came to a brief but complex understanding that Sirius might end up be hurt by the night's events, but they were going to be there for him no matter what, because they were his friends and that's just what they'd do.

After allowing the boys ten seconds of attempted telepathy- not something she'd put past them- the steely eyed woman said, "Come along, you two. Potter and Pettigrew, you'd best find seats. The ceremony begins in five minutes." 

Sirius visibly drooped when he heard this, as if all the hope holding him up having left his body. McGonagall sighed, a sound that Remus found concerning but also reassuring. He trusted her. 

"Follow me boys, I crave a word with each of you. Yes, this way. In here." Her tone grew kindlier as she lead them down a few hallways into her office, settling herself behind a large desk before addressing them again. "Biscuit, Black? Lupin? Very well, I suppose you'll spoil your suppers. I have some grave matters to discuss before the term begins. Have a seat, boys."

"What's going on? We haven't even done anything yet!" Sirius burst out, quickly transforming his hopelessness into a sort of anger against the world.

McGonagall peered down her glasses at him, assuming a look of quiet sternness before stating, "I have a feeling you two know exactly why you are here."

Remus shuffled his feet, uncomfortable to the extreme. He was aware of Sirius growing frustrated beside him, and tried to make himself appear more confident for the Sirius' sake, thinking of how James would act in their situation. 

"Were the four of you planning to sabotage tonight's Sorting?"

Remus figured that she already knew, and after staring at Sirius' downturned eyes, nodded guiltily, "Yes, professor."

"I was expecting something like this. Does this prank of yours have anything to do with young Regulus Black, perhaps?"

Sirius' head shot up. "You don't understand, I was just trying to save him-"

"The Sorting Hat will always place students in the correct house, Mr. Black. You must trust that your brother will end up where he belongs."

The angry boy swiped at his eyes, furious. "But you know that's not how it works! He's going to be a little Slytherin brat, and he's so good, she's crushing him and he'll end up a dark wizard, just like the rest of my bloody family."

"I'd advise you to watch your tongue, Black. Lupin, you and your friend are not required at the feast, unless for some reason you want to attend after this. The password to your common room is cattywampus, the house elves will bring a meal up to you. You are excused, Black. A word with you, Lupin."

Sirius turned on his heel, a strangely graceful movement for one who looked so broken. 

"Yes, professor?" Remus scooted a little away from her desk, the room feeling empty without Sirius in it.

"You may be wondering why I did not call James as well."

"Yes, professor, I was."

"Sirius needs his friends more than ever, as this will be a trying time for him. You must be patient. However, I am disappointed that you would show your friendship in a such a manner as to threaten an important experience for all of our first years. You are excused, Remus."

"Thank you, professor."

***

Remus left somewhat less gracefully than Sirius, but stumbled out all the same. He was pleased to see Sirius waiting for him, having assumed that the boy would have gone up to the Gryffindor common room without him.

To his surprise, Sirius was in a moderately pleasant mood. 

"Are you alright?"

"Who, me? I'm worried about you, Sirius."

"I was scared you'd get in trouble for letting me try that prank."

"She said she was disappointed in me, but we didn't even start phase one, so she can't have been very upset."

The Fat Lady seemed surprised to see the second years up so early after the feast, but swung open when Sirius spoke the password.

They made it up to their dorm, where they found their trunks and a small hot meal set out. 

"Remus, I'm really sorry I got you in trouble, and that I was so short with you lot on the train. You and James are some of my best mates and I shouldn't have been so rude earlier," Sirius mumbled. "And Peter," after a moment of thought.

"Let's eat before those two get up here, then."

And Sirius, who thought he wasn't very hungry, discovered that not eating anything since breakfast does in fact make one hungry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks again for reading!! next chapter should be up by the end of the week, hope you guys like it so far!

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading this! i wrote part of it last year and recently got inspired again. i have written a few chapters in advance i'll be posting i think every few days or once a week. thanks again!


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